Chapter 2: Meteorological Measurements

• Surface Measurements
• Rawinsondes
• Radar
• Satellite ESS124
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Meteorologists understand and predict weather using
two scientific approaches:

(1) Analysis of meteorological measurements

(2) Numerical modeling

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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Synoptic Meteorology
• Observations of atmospheric properties are
taken at different locations at the same time
to construct weather maps for analysis.

• Meteorologists call these measurements

synoptic and studies using these
measurement synoptic meteorology.

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 Technology and Meteorology
1600 thermometer
1640s barometer
1660s anemometer
1700s hygrometer

1854 telegraph construction of first weather map

1930s rawindsonde routine upper-air information became available

1940s radar mapping precipitation

1950s computer numerical weather prediction

1960s satellite world-wide coverage of measurements

1990s PC and internet weather information to your desk

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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Observation Time for Weather Map
 Weather organizations throughout the world use the UTC (Universal
Time Coordinated) as the reference clock for weather observations.

 UTC is also denoted by the abbreviation GMT (Greenwich Meridian

Time) or, often as the last two zeroes omitted, Z (Zulu).

 Observations of the upper atmosphere are coordinately internationally

to be made at 0000 UTC (midnight at Greenwich; 0Z; 0GMT) and 1200
UTC (noon at Greenwich; 12Z; 12GMT).

 Synoptic observations have traditionally been done every 6 hours or

every 3 hours, depending on the station.

 Local time should be 1 hour earlier for every (360/24)=15° of longitude

west of Greenwich.
Local time in Los Angeles (118 ° W) and the rest of the Pacific
Standard Time is 8 (= 118°/15°) hours earlier than Greenwich.
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Time Zone

(from Meteorology: Understanding the Atmosphere)

9/24/2015 9/25/2015 9/24/2015
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
UTC And US Standard Time

Eastern Time Zone = UTC - 5 hrs

Pacific Time Zone = UTC – 8 hrs

Alaska Time Zone = UTC – 9 hrs

Hawaii Time Zone = UTC – 10 hrs

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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Surface Measurements: ASOS/AWOS

• Automated Surface (Weather) Observing

Systems (ASOS or AWOS) are now used
to make standard measurements of
atmospheric properties at most location in
North America.

• The measurements are reported hourly in

North America and every three hours
worldwide, at 0000, 0300, 0600, 0900,
1200, 1500, 1800, and 2100 UTC.

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 AWOS
A ceilometer is a device to
determine the height of a
cloud base.

(from http://www.allweatherinc.com)
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What Instruments does ASOS/AWOS Have?

• Rain sensor
• Temperature sensor
• Dewpoint temperature sensor
• Pressure sensor
• Device to detect precipitation
• Wind vane for wind direction
• Anemometer for wind speed
• Devices to measure sky conditions
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 What does ASOS/AWOS Report?
• Cloud height and amount
• Visibility
• Precipitation type, intensity, and accumulation (bgn/ending time)
• Obstruction to vision (such as fog or haze) (maybe visibility)
• Sea-level pressure (may also report pressure tendency)
• Altimeter setting
• Temperature
• Dewpoint temperature
• Wind direction, speed, and character (gusts, squalls)

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Surface Weather Stations

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Aneroid barometer (left)
and its workings (right)

A barograph continually
records air pressure
through time

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 Meteogram

• Surface data from ASOC/AWOS stations are plotted on

meteograms; graphs that show how several atmospheric properties
change with time.
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A Winter Day in Buffalo, NY
T = Td
4* = heavy snow

low visibility

complete overcast

broken cloud cover obscured (by snow) wind direction

changes

cloud base
drops

1st band of snow 2nd band of snow ESS124

Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Rawinsondes
• To understand weather systems,
measurements are required
through the depth of the
troposphere and well into the
stratosphere.

• Raiwinsondes are designed for

this purpose.

• A rawinsonde is a balloon-
borne instruments system that
measure pressure, temperature,
dewpoint temperature, wind
direction, and speed.
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 Rawinsonde Stations
• Rawinsondes are lunched
worldwide twice a day at 0000
UTC and 1200 UTC.

• Rawindonses are normally

launched 50 minutes prior to
the standard time (1200, 0000
UTC), so that they sample the
jetstream level around 250mb
close to 1200 and 0000 UTC.

• The balloons typically rise about 20km (~60mb) before they burst.

• It usually takes about an hour before it bursts. ESS124

Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Sounding and Stuve Diagram
• The vertical structure of the
atmosphere above a location on
the Earth measured by a
rawinsonde is called a
sounding.

• The sounding is usually plotted

on a Stuve Diagram which uses
pressure (mb; in log form) as
its vertical axis and temperature
(°C) as the horizontal axis.

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A Sounding over Minneapolis, Minnesota
• An inversion layer, where the
temperature increases with height,
is located between the surface and
905mb.

• A cloud layer is present between

640mb and 250mb.

• In the cloud layer, the temperature

and dewpoint temperature are
equal.

• The tropopause is located at

250mb.

• The jetstream is between 250mb

and 180mb. ESS124
1 knot = 0.514 m/sec Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Skew-T/Log P Diagram
• Another way to display the
vertical structure from
sounding is the Skew-T/Log P
Diagram.

• Lines of constant temperature

are not vertical but skewed on
this diagram.

• The is the most common

diagram used in meteorology to
plot soundings.

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Stuve and Skew-T Diagrams
Stuve Diagram Skew-T Diagram

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Adiabatic Chart: P and T

(from Meteorology Today)

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Adiabatic Chart: Dry Adiabatic / 

(from Meteorology Today)

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Adiabatic Chart: Moist Adiabatic

(from Meteorology Today)

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Adiabatic Chart: Mixing Ratio

(from Meteorology Today)

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An Example

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Hodographs
• Meteorologists use hodographs to
display the vertical wind shear
information collected from
rawinsondes.

• The change of wind direction and

speed between two altitudes is called
vertical wind shear.

• Hodographs show wind speed and

direction at evenly spaced altitudes,
for example at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0
kilometers.
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Information on a Hodograph
• Wind Speed: distance from the
center of the hodograph denotes
wind speed.

• Wind Direction: each dot on the

hodograph can be regarded as the
head of an arrow pointing from the
diagram center in the direction the
air is moving.

• Vertical Wind Shear: The length of

a line between two points denotes
wind speed shear.
• This is a hodograph of a severe thunderstorm that usually
forms in an environment with a strong wind shear. ESS124
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 Thermal Wind Balance
(1) Geostrophic Balance

(2) Hydrostratic Balance

Combine (1) and (2) 

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Physical
Meanings

• The thermal wind is a vertical shear in the geostrophic wind caused by a horizontal
temperature gradient. Its name is a misnomer, because the thermal wind is not
actually a wind, but rather a wind gradient.
• The vertical shear (including direction and speed) of geostrophic wind is related to
the horizontal variation of temperature.
 The thermal wind equation is an extremely useful diagnostic tool, which is often used
to check analyses of the observed wind and temperature fields for consistency.
 It can also be used to estimate the mean horizontal temperature advection in a layer.
 Thermal wind blows parallel to the isotherms with the warm air to the right
facing downstream in the Northern Hemisphere. ESS124
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Radar
• Weather radars are
used to monitor
precipitation.
• Radars send out
microwave signals
in a narrow beam
from it transmitter
in a very short time
(about 1 millionth of
a second).

• When microwaves encounter raindrops and hailstones, some of the energy

is scattered back to the radar, whose the microwave echo is received.
• Based on the time between the microwave is transmitted and received,
speed of light, antenna angle, radars can find the locations of rain in space
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Radar Echo and Precipitation
• The amount of the microwave
energy returned to radars depends
on three parameters: (1) the size of
precipitation particles, (2) the type
of precipitation (ice crystal, hail,
rain), and (3) the number of
particle in the radar beam.
• The greater the size and number of
particles the beam intercepts, the
larger the returned signal will be.
• Therefore, larger values of radar
reflectivity are associated with
heavy rain or hail and small values
with non-precipitation clouds.
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Processing of Radar Signals
Precipitation Mode
Red, pink, purple, white
 intense precipitation
Yellow
 moderate rain
Green, blue
 light rain

Clear Air Mode

Radars receive energy scattered
back from insets, birds,
turbulence, and ground
objects.
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Doppler Radar

(from http://en.wikipedia.org)

• Doppler radars can provide not only precipitation information but also wind
information (along the direction of radar beams).
• Doppler radars send out microwave signals in a specific frequency, which
may be slightly shifted when the signals are scattered back due to the
motion of precipitation. (similar to the higher and lower pitching sounds we
hear with an approaching or leaving train).
• The larger the precipitation motion (which is due to wind blowing), the
larger the shift.
• Therefore, Doppler radars can use the frequency shift information to derive
the motion of the precipitation (and wind information).
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US Network of Doppler Radars
• The Doppler radar network was
installed in the early and middle
1990s.
• Each radar can monitor the
atmosphere a distance of
approximately 250km (155
miles) from the radar location.
• Doppler radars are important to
the studies of severe storm
structure and dynamics.

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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Storms over Northeastern Kansas

• The storms were observed both by

infrared satellite image and two
Doppler radars.
• The Doppler radars show showers
occurred along a line where the wind
shifted from southerly to
southwesterly.

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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Doppler Radar Measurements
MEASUREMENT DERIVED QUANTITY

Time it takes for the microwave energy Distance to the precipitation

to travel from the transmitter to the
target (precipitation) and back to the
receiver
Pointing angles of the antenna Altitude of the precipitation and its
geographic location

The fraction of transmitted microwave The intensity of the precipitation, and

energy that is scattered back to the when added over time, the total
antenna by the target precipitation

The frequency of the transmitted signal Speed of the wind toward or away from
and the signal received from the target the radar

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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Wind Profiler
• The wind profiler is
another type of Doppler
radar that operates in
very high frequency
(VHF) or ultra high
frequency (UHF).
• The profiler has a
“phased array antenna”
that is different from the
typical dish antenna.
• The phased array transmits signals with a light time delay from one side to
the other across the array creates a beam of radiation pointing in a specific
direction.
• Energy is scattered back by small variations in atmospheric density
associated with turbulences.
• By using several beams, the profiler can measure the vertical profile
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of the
wind (speed and direction). Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Spectrum of Radiation

(from Understanding Weather & Climate)

 Radiation energy comes in an infinite number of

wavelengths.
 We can divide these wavelengths into a few bands.
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Wind Profiler Network

• Wind profiles work best in clear air.

• Wind profilers can measure wind profile up to 16.5 km.
• Wind profilers provide information of vertical wind structure similar to
that provided by soundings but at a higher measurement frequency.
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The Passage of a Cold Front Measured by a Wind Profiler

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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Satellites
• Satellites are found in two types of orbits: geostationary orbits and low
Earth orbits.
• A satellite in a "Geo Synchronous" orbit hovers
over one spot and follows the Earths spin along
the equator.
• The satellite must be 35,800km above the Earth’s
surface.
• The satellite has a good view of the entire Earth’s
disk except for the polar regions.
• Low orbit satellites are normally several hundred
to thousand kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
• They are often placed in a near-polar orbit that is
sun-synchronous, meaning the orbit cross the
equator at the same local time every day.
• They only view a small part of the Earth at any
one time and pass any point twice a day.
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Spectrum of Radiation

(from Understanding Weather & Climate)

• Radiation energy comes in an infinite number of

wavelengths.
• We can divide these wavelengths into a few bands.
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Geostationary Satellites
Visible Channel
• Measure the reflected visible light.
• Only available in daytime.
• Bright colors  clouds or snow
• Dark colors  oceans or forest…

Infrared Channel
• Measure the infrared radiation emitted by
Earth and atmosphere.
• Work both day and night.
• Bright colors  colder surface
• Dark colors  warmer surface
Water Vapor Channel
• Provides water vapor information.
• Works day and night.
• Can identify jetstream locations.
• Bright colors  moist airs. ESS124
• Dark colors  dry airs. Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Interpreting Satellite Imagery
VISIBLE INFRARED WATER VAPOR

SATELLITE reflected solar Emitted infrared Infrared radiation

MEASURES radiation radiation emitted by water
(temperature) vapor only

BRIGHTEST thick clouds, snow Cold cloud tops Moist air

REGIONS (high clouds)

DARKEST Oceans, forests, Warm cloud tops Dry air

REGIONS unfrozen rivers in (low clouds)
winter warm regions of
the earth’s surface

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Seven Geostationary Satellites

US/GEOS-12 US/GEOS-11 Japan/MTSAT-1R

EU/Meteosat-5 EU/Meteosat6,8,9

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 National Weather Service

• NWS has six major operational national centers, including NCEP.

• NCEP has itself has nine specialized centers.
• The 125 Forecast Offices issue forecasts and severe thunderstorm
and tornado warnings. ESS124
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu